They Locked My Snack Cabinet. I Let the Company Fall Apart.

Everyone at the company knew I had a duodenal ulcer. When it flared up, I needed something to eat to ease the pain.

After spending an entire afternoon negotiating with a client and settling on Friday to sign the contract, my stomach cramped so badly that my heart raced. I reached into my designated snack cabinet for a packet of crackers.

The new intern slapped a payment QR code in front of me.

“Two-hundred-yuan fine. Pay up!”

I assumed she simply didn’t know about my condition yet, so I patiently explained.

“I have a duodenal ulcer. So it won’t interfere with my work, the company specifically gave me—”

A second later, her finger was practically in my eye.

“If you’re sick, get treatment. Stop making it your whole personality at work!”

“How is the company supposed to function if everyone demands special treatment? The boss put me in charge of cleaning up the office culture. Freeloaders like you, who eat all day and do no work, are exactly who I’m here to deal with!”

I stared at her, stunned.

I’d developed the condition in the company’s early days, after spending six straight months so busy that I lived on one packet of instant noodles a day.

The intern locked my snack cabinet.

“From now on, you pay the fine before you eat. If you don’t want to pay, take leave and see a doctor!”

“Five hundred yuan deducted for each absence. Take leave more than twice, and you lose your entire commission for the month!”

But when I actually took sick leave, the whole company fell apart.